


A Long and Winding Road

by ScarlettsLetters



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Avengers: Endgame, Awesome Peggy Carter, Bucky Barnes-centric, Depressed Steve Rogers, F/M, Love Confessions, M/M, Past Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 11:23:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16953087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarlettsLetters/pseuds/ScarlettsLetters
Summary: A fortnight since the Decimation leveled half the living population of the universe, Steve Rogers looks for new ways to cope with a future without the people he loves. Sometimes hope can be found in the past.





	A Long and Winding Road

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for the Avengers: Endgame trailer and very much for Infinity War. If you haven't seen either, don't say I never warned you.

"Hill?" Natasha's question rang through the empty office. 

Bruce rubbed his haggard face. Growth scraped along his palm, his eyes heavy with a lack of sleep. Algorithms danced across the projected holograph screens between them, strobing him in the pale light. Maria's face came into sharp focus, all aggressive cheekbones and hard stare. Her SHIELD identification photo could put a thrill up someone's back even now. 

He waited longer than necessary. Grids and charts danced in sinuous lines. Nat tapped on the keyboard incessantly, plugging in data and accessing hidden networks on the deep web that meant nothing to the captain slouched over a seat, staring blankly at the row of names branded by the neon red accusation: Missing. 

Steve's stomach flipped over. Missing. Shuri of Wakanda. Missing. Matthew Murdock. Missing. Jessica Jones. Missing. Every digital reconstruction burned into his retinas. Shutting his eyes provided no reprieve. He watched Wanda's tortured gaze meeting his, despair etched into her glowing irises. Bucky dissolving into ash, the machine gun bouncing to the forest floor. 

He couldn't breathe. 

"Nada," Bruce said. 

Natasha focused on the monitors laid out in front of her. Strain lined her shoulders and stiffened her spine. "Keep looking. You know she's gone off-grid before." 

"Sure, Nat." 

Steve picked up the lukewarm cup of coffee. His hands shook. The serum that made him invulnerable to almost every condition gave him no special defense against psychological torment.

He heard the mutters at a distance, Bruce growling to himself, Natasha hissing to her fingers like she might produce results if only she typed faster. Two monitors cycled between news stations, broadcasting the horrors in Tokyo, Cairo, Kuala Lumpur, Kinshasa. In Buenos Aires, a fire raged through the streets while shell-shocked survivors stared hopelessly at the smoke. A firefighter held a limp hose in his hands, as though unable to conceive of the missing crew behind him. 

Steve turned away from the view and stalked out of the room. Even the corridors were stifling, crushing his stomach and his chest in a golden fist. A lupine howl tried to crawl its way out of his throat and he swallowed it down. Again. He was so damn tired of swallowing the scream. 

But if he started, he might never stop.

**Author's Note:**

> With the prologue done, onward comes the meat of the story.


End file.
